Path 2

Path 2

No Stream #6

November 9, 1999

This zine is produced by ex-WRCN DJ Erik Heuler, who did a local-music show called, appropriately enough, Local Buzz. The show is no more, but No Stream lives on to expose (apparently without a preference as to style) the local bands of our fair isle. As a whole, this zine reads much like you would expect a zine written by a radio DJ to read. There’s a lack of a critical voice and an overall glossing over of its subject. I’ve never understood why we should be interested in “local music” in general, as opposed to “good music that is also local.” Still, this zine serves a certain community, and its creators seem to have a sincere enthusiasm for the bands they cover. Maybe I’m getting too cynical in my old age. You decide:

Now about the cancellation of Local Buzz…I was told the day after the July 4th weekend, Tuesday July 6th at about 1:00PM. The reasoning behind the decision (as I was told), which supposedly came from the programming consultant (i.e. the person who tells us what music to play), was that the show did not fit the format and, to paraphrase, it wasn’t bringing in money to the station. All well and good, whatever the reason the result is the same…no Local Buzz! I was hurt, angry, depressed, disappointed, all the good stuff that you feel when you lose something you really love. Shortly after the cancellation I found out that the official statement to the press as the reason for canceling the show was that it wasn’t growing in a direction that was the same as the rest of the station. The station’s recent format change aimed for an older demographic. They (meaning the station) also claimed to still be interested in being the home of a local music show. This makes me ask the question: Why take off a show already in place and then put one on that’s similar to it?